


Heartbeet Tea Dog Days

by Buttercupbeee



Category: Room of Swords (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-11-04 10:12:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17896508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buttercupbeee/pseuds/Buttercupbeee
Summary: Dying over and over again is exausting for Gyrus. He’s sick of it! So what happens when he tries to get Kodya to die in his place for once? Read to find out.AU where Gyrus would only die for his friends 99% of the time.





	1. The Bet

“Kodya, why do I always have to be the one to die.” Gyrus looked up at the timer. There was only about 30 minutes left and Gyrus was not looking forwards to having to reset again.   
Kodya turned to give Gyrus a familiar demeaning stare. “Listen kid, I’ve died a billion times in this place before I found you. Suck it up.”

Gyrus couldn’t fathom how Kodya became so edgy. He just couldn’t figure the guy out. Every time Gyrus attempted to reach out, Kodya’s cold nature bit his hand.

Kodya noticed the boy’s frustration. He felt guilty, but also knew that he couldn’t afford getting close to Gyrus again. He had to shake the weakness out of the kid. He decided to make a bet with him.

“Ok here’s the deal. We’ll both race to that rock over there.” Kodya pointed to a purple rock about 200 meters away. “Looser gets stabbed. Plus, they will have to be the one to reset every single time from now on.”  
Gyrus reacted poorly to Kodya’s wager. “I didn’t mean it like that... I don’t want you to die in that way everytime! Why can’t we take turns!?”   
Kodya snickered. What a naive asshole this kid was. “You really don’t think I’ll win?”  
Gyrus stepped away from Kodya, repulsed by his ruthlessness. “In that case deal.” He had no more sympathy for that convoluted prick.

His violet iris’ glistened with a determination which Kodya recognized. He turned away.   
“Don’t even think about using your jump boots, cheater.”  
“... fine.”


	2. The Race

3... 2... 1...  
GO!  
The hologram timer went off and the boys sped through the arid land. Both of them were in serious athletic shape. Gyrus worked out everyday since he was 14 to become an astronaut. Kodya had lived in the wilderness his whole life. Sprinting for game and chopping wood were less than easy for him.

Neck to neck, neither wanted to loose. However, Kodya had more on the line than just dying. If he lost, it would make his and Gyrus’s relationship even less formal. He couldn’t risk becoming familiar with him. He had to bring him to Don as untouched as possible.

So, Kodya ran faster than he had in his entire life. Faster than when he was starving during the arctic winter in Russia and he found a rabbit. Harder than when he was running away from monsters trying to take his life. With each step he ran he felt his heart pound trying to fill his body with warmth. His cold breaths panted louder and louder.

Just a stride ahead, Kodya won.

Kodya and Gyrus sprinted so fast that nether could stop themselves and they both ran straight into rock.

Landing on their backs, painting, Kodya looked at the timer again. Not much time left. He sat up half smiling in victory when he felt a cold shiver run down his spin that made him loose his breath.

A shadow creature was staring at them from a far distance.

After a pause of silence, Kodya rolled his head over to look at the boy. With a red face, he looked even more like a strawberry than ever. The thought almost made Kodya exhale a chuckle. “Gyrus, you lost. You know what to do.”

Gyrus got up and silently sliced the boss sword into his stomach, making a muffled grunt while Kodya silently watched with a composure as icy as the Arctic seas he grew up with.


	3. Reflection

The pain of dying was worse than could be imagined. There was no getting used to it. Gyrus had died so many times that resetting no longer felt like true death. However, the throb of the boss sword’s cut, the rush of warm blood escaping his body, and the final cold wash of death was more than traumatizing. Being resurrected all over again only added to the sociological horror.

Be that as it may, they had to be prepared to die over and over again unless they wanted to truly draw their last breath in the twisted hellscape.

The thing that bothered Kodya the most about the resets was when he sees the look on Gyrus’s face. When they first started resetting, Kodya felt satisfaction looking down on a dying Gyrus. That’s what he deserved for betraying them all, right? But quickly Kodya felt no such relief.

He knew that he should hate Gyrus, or at least fear his potential after everything Old Gyrus had done to hurt him and his friends. But this Gyrus felt different. More like the Gyrus he knew before the betrayal. The only difference was Kodya didn’t see Gyrus as all that stupendous anymore. Now he could see how similar they were in their origins. They started in the same spot: confused and weak.

He wanted to react like Don did and completely disown Gyrus. But what was he going to do if Old Gyrus was back in front of him? Punch him in his face? If he cried when he saw him, would it be out of anger or happiness?

The last words Gyrus said to him echoed in his head. “It isn’t over yet...”

Kodya chose to try to not dwell on it. Gyrus probably despised them all and wanted to fuck with his head. He’d do as Don told him and bring this weak version of Gyrus back to help them.


	4. Heartbeet Tea

“SWISH” Kodya riped the sword from Gyrus’s gut.  
“ArgHHH!” Gyrus gave a piercing scream.  
“Eat this.” Kodya pitched a heart beet on the ground in front of Gyrus’s face.  
Teary eyed, Gyrus grabbed the beet, cramming it down his throat as quick as possible.  
“Better?” Kodya said with softness.  
“Your an asshole” Gyrus mumbled. He gave Kodya the evilest glare he could muster before breaking into a coughing fit.

Gyrus got up, leaving warm blood on the dirt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pair decided to rest before going back to training. They set up camp in a nearby cave.

Kodya poured Gyrus some heartbeet tea.

They were used to doing this routine over and over again. Dying, reseting, training, collapsing, dying, reseting again. It was like the dog days of summer. Time kept moving but it felt like they were stuck doing the same thing over and over again, getting stronger but never changing.

Gyrus looked up at Kodya. He was sipping his own cup of tea and staring sharply at a map, writing notes. The caring sweet expression on his face was gone and replaced with his usual resting bitch face.

He was a handsome well built guy who probably ate bears for breakfast with his cute girlfriend he left at home in Russia. So why was he so weird around him? At every second he could, Kodya would distance himself from Gyrus. But after a reset he’d act unusually dotting.

Gyrus finished his tea and Kodya grabbed the cup to wash it with a hint of softness in his eyes.

Who hurt him to be so untrusting?


	5. Reveal

Kodya and Gyrus crawled into their respective sleeping bags. Alone, questions about Kodya swirled through Gyrus’s head. Gyrus decided he had had enough. He turned towards the fire in-between them and glared into the back of Kodya’s head.

Kodya felt Gyrus’s piercing gaze through his skull but refused to turn towards him.

“What do you want kid?”  
“Why do you call me that”  
“.... if you don’t have anything important to say don’t waste my time. I need to rest.”  
“Kodya, stop being such an ass! I never did anything! Why can’t you let your guard down around me? Who was I to you befo—”  
Kodya cut Gyrus off.  
“Shut up! You don’t know anything!”  
“Well maybe I would if you talked to me! Your always so hot and cold! I’m confused by you.”  
“Блат!”

Kodya rolled from his side onto his back. Stressed out, he pushed his bangs away from his face and onto his forehead. The light from the fire touched his face, revealing deep shadows in between his fingers and eyes.

“After we met in the Room of Swords we slowly became inseparable. We were a team. You were about seven years older than me at the time. I really idolized you. I felt like we understood each other so well. I was wrong.”

Kodya looked at Gyrus straight into his eyes.

Kodya had stared into those eyes many times before, but for Gyrus Kodya’s blue eyes meeting his violet ones was brand new. Gyrus realize his icy exterior was just a front. His calm act was just a dam for the hurricane of emotions he desperately tried to hide. The image of the campfire between them reflected in Kodya’s eyes. 

A gust of wind blew into the cave, extinguishing the fire for a split second. The whole cave when pitch black. Then the fire exploded and the flame grew higher than it had been the whole night.

Kodya turned his focus back to the wall.

“You’re nothing like him.” Kodya let out a small laugh. There was a pause. “You don’t know anything. You’re naive. You’re weak. You don’t know what this place means. Not that I do either, but that smart ass did. Maybe you’ll know too someday. Maybe that’s why I believed you and decided to find you again...” Kodya’s voice trailed off as if the thought was a tide receding back into his mind sweeping him through his memories.

Kodya’s shoulders started to sink into the ground making him look a lot smaller.

“You look like him but you don’t. He was a bit more rugged and had a lot less energy than you. Plus you have a dorky hair cut.”

“Hey I like my hair cut! All astronauts have to have short hair.”

Kodya snickered and there was a pause of silence. Cautiously Kodya turned around again and placed his hand on Gyrus’s face. Warmth filled Gyrus’s body.

“Despite your haircut, you have potential. You just have to start using your head and stop being a absolutely reckless idiot. You’re naive and believe in the goodness of others but you’re going to get killed because of that.” To Gyrus, it felt like he was talking to him but also to someone else. “...Yet somehow, I still feel like I could fall for you again. Despite being like this, you still manage to amaze me.”

Gyrus blushed profusely.

“Wait, so why did you act so coldly to me? If I was some one y- you l-lo-lov...” Gyrus fumbled with his words.

“Because...” Kodya clenched his jaw and looked up at the ceiling.

“Is it because of Don.” Gyrus rolled back onto his back and felt the weight of the world for the first time. “What sort of man was I? What did I do to you all?”

Kodya didn’t look back at Gyrus, as if he was afraid of what he’d see. “You don’t want to know.”


	6. Decision

Things after Kodya’s confession were a little awkward. Gyrus was confused and conflicted on what Kodya wanted from him. Did he want nothing to do with him after he betrayed everyone or did he want to restart whatever they had before? What was to become of him when he got back to the Room of Swords? 

 

More importantly, what did he want for himself?

His question was answered the next day. 

 

When Gyrus woke up Kodya was already out of the cave and slaying monsters. Half naked and glistening with sweat under the sun, Gyrus caught himself staring. He pulled his covers over his strawberry red face when Kodya ripped the sheet off his bed. 

 

“I’ll wait outside. Come with me when you’re ready.” Kodya quickly turned around, leaving Gyrus to get ready by himself. 

They marched to a river a far distance from the cave. At the river bank, many ugly purple blobs roamed. 

 

“Kill these.” Kodya demanded. 

“All of them?!?” There were hundreds, how was Gyrus supposed to kill them all himself?

A bitter wind swayed between them and a shadow fell over Kodya’s eyes. “Figure it out.”

“Kodya if this is about yesterday-“

Kodya interrupted him. 

“I don’t want to hear it, just do this.”

 

And so Gyrus killed and killed and killed the monsters. He was about to slash a particularly large blob when a small blob captured Gyrus’s foot, causing him to trip into the river bank. 

 

Kodya let out the most obnoxious snicker when a humongous blob that neither of them had noticed smacked him in the back of his head, and he landed in the river right on his face as well. 

“That’s karma for you!” Gyrus smiled. 

“What the hell is a Karma? Is that what you call that thing?” Kodya stood up, whipping blood off his cheek from the impact. With Olympic precision, Kodya shot an arrow right into blob’s heart, killing it instantly. Terrified, the other blobs ran away. 

 

“Never mind. At least it’s shallow in here.” Gyrus stood up and took a step when he slipped on a rock and landed right on top of Kodya. 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry are you ok?”

“ой” Kodya winced in pain. “It’s fine just get off of me.”

That statement sparked an idea in Gyrus’s brain. 

“No. I won’t.” Gyrus said calmly. 

“Kid... what are you doing”

“I’m not getting off of you until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

Kodya blushed out of embarrassment and anger. “Gyr- Kid! I don’t have time to coddle your poor self esteem!” 

Gyrus’s grip hardened in frustration. “My self esteem is fine. Yours is the needs coddling. Stop ignoring your own emotions!” 

 

The rivers current slowed down and pause of silence rested between the two of them.

 

“Kid... No, Gyrus. I need to move on from you. I can’t do this anymore. You crippled Don and screwed us over. How could I forgive you after that.”

“I’m not him. Well, technically I am. But I never did any of that stuff!”

“How do I know you wouldn’t in the future. Your weak and controllable now, but what about later when you find yourself in the same position as him.” 

 

“...because I don’t ever want to see you hurting like this.” Gyrus planted a kiss on Kodya’s lips. Kodya’s eyes widened. 

“Pffft.” Kodya letting out a laugh. A real laugh not a snicker. “Your still as bad a kisser as ever.” 

Gyrus blushed, his suaveness was gone.

Kodya started laughing harder. “Fuck! Looks like that bitch was right. You still got me wrapped around your fingers.” Kodya kissed Gyrus back. 

“I can’t believe I broke every rule Don gave me.”

Gyrus smiled. “We’ll worry about him later. I’m sure I can convince him that I can be different.”

Kodya doubted that statement, but was happy he and his soulmate were back together. “Ok.”

Warmth filled the air. 


End file.
